


Homesick

by podcastalien



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: AU, Aged-Up Character(s), Angst, Fix-It of Sorts, Flashback, Fluff, High School, M/M, slow burn sorta
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-13
Updated: 2018-02-12
Packaged: 2019-03-17 14:48:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13661217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/podcastalien/pseuds/podcastalien
Summary: One by one, the losers move away from Derry. With so much left unsaid, what will become of the two whose lives have been tied into one?





	Homesick

**Author's Note:**

> The first chapter will serve as a sort of intro/prologue to the story. After this chapter the characters are in highschool. All the events that happened in it (2017) are the same and it diverges from the canon from this point. Hope you enjoy!

It had been a year and six months since Beverly had left. School was well in session now and March was breathing a cool, green life into Derry. Seven hands are still scarred with a promise to bind seven lives together, though everyday it seemed to fade.

Richie Tozier sat in his room in the early hours of the morning; while Derry slept, he ran his fingers over the cut and felt the memory of September flood into his mind. 

He remembered never feeling closer to anyone before than he did standing in that circle. He remembered a hard lesson learned.

He remembered he was a protecter. He remembered he was protected. 

He remembered needing to protect all, an instinct that could not be ignored. For the first time, he felt the red in his blood. He felt an all encompassing love for his friends, which made the fact of a different type of love all the more apparent.

He remembered the golden sun provided the light for a realization, not like a lightbulb going off, more like the soft glow of the afternoon bathing you in it’s life and suddenly, you realize it's always been there, in the back of your mind. 

He remembered Eddie getting up to say goodbye. An embrace, not the first, not the last, but something new in the air between them. He remembered wondering if Eddie felt it too. 

“Bye, Rich” 

“See ya around, Eds” 

He remembered a smile, just for him. 

He watched him walked away. He felt the grass and wind whisper a gentle suggestion that drowned out all else around him, “after him, after him!” they cried. Richie felt his heart jump to his throat. 

Would everyone else notice if he got up now? Why would they? What was to notice? 

He remembered his mind racing with thoughts that were all too familiar to him now. 

Like being clotheslined, his legs betrayed his mind and he was up. 

“I think I should get home, ya know the folks’ll be worried and all that,” Richie looked to Bill and each of the losers in a frenzy, as if they were all about to point fingers and laugh at him, as if they knew. 

“O-okay, R-Richie, c-catch ya around,” Bill had that look of concern that only fit his face, but, thankfully, he didn't press any further. 

“Smell ya later, haystack, Ringwald,” he saluted to Bev and Ben. 

Bev gave him the finger and they all chuckled. 

Richie turned on his heels, only one on thing on his mind.  
“Hey Eddie!” He attempted to shout causally, as if he hadn't ran his heart out to try and catch up. Eddie turned at the sound of his voice. 

“Richie? I Thought you were staying back with Bill,” Richie's stomach dropped, he'd forgotten to account for one person noticing the oddities in his behavior: Eddie himself. 

He swallowed hard, “thought I'd walk you home, can't have you breaking the other arm, I promised your mom I'd look after you.” 

Eddie rolled his eyes like he always did, “Jesus Richie, still with the mom jokes?” He chided. 

“Who says it's a joke,” Richie quipped. 

“Okay, whatever, I’m not letting you follow me around just so you can make fun of me.” 

“You know that's never my intend, spaghetti, you just bring it out in me,” Richie said, and meant it. He really didn't know why he was always teasing Eddie specifically, until now that is.

“Well whatever it is put it back in ‘cause I don't wanna hear it.” 

Richie howl-laughed, “Damn Eds! Gettin off on a good one! Je-sus! Someone musta ruffled your feathers today, sir!” 

“Yeah it was you, dipshit.” 

“Oh Eds, don't say things like that, Mrs. k will get jealous.” 

Eddie’s checks burned and Richie wondered why his mind couldn't fucking keep up with his mouth. "God damnit why did I say it like that??? Good fuckin’ goin, trashmouth," his brain screamed. 

They walked in sync now, through the woods and up the path out of the barrens, letting the warmth of the afternoon wash over them. 

“So-“

“Do you-“ 

They spoke in unison, both attempting to brake the silence. 

“Go ahead,” Richie suggested, he didn't really have anything to say, he just knew he couldn't soak in silence any longer. 

Eddie breathed in, channeling some great strength to say and do the things he thought he couldn't, “Do you think- do you think everything will be okay?” He let the words out, sounding like he himself already knew the unkind answer. 

“What do ya mean, Eds?” Richie knew what he meant, but he didn't want to. 

“I mean do you think we-“ 

“Got It?” Richie jumped in, Eddie nodded. “I don't know, but if we didn't, we’ll be away when it comes back.”  
They both stewed in the aftermath for a moment. 

Eddie started again, “do you think everyone will keep the promise?” 

Richie pondered what he had asked, a rarity to say the least, “it’s not much of a promise if you break it now is it?” 

Eddie nodded again. He laughed, “man my mom’s really gonna have it out for me with this scar.” 

Richie wasn't really surprised by the sudden transition in topic, no one really wanted to revel in what this all meant for them. “You're right about that, maybe I can talk her down though, she loves me.” 

Eddie chuckled quietly, “Richie, my mom has a unique hatred for you.” 

“I call it passion, Eds.” 

They moved down the sidewalk together, breathing in the scent of their home town as it wasn't before, safe, at least for a little while. Richie ran his hands through his dark hair and admired the towns’ normality like he hadn't before. He soaked in the the trees, the shops, the grocery store he always dreaded going to with his mom. For the first time, he was thankful for the familiarity that Derry’s landscape brought him. He eased up and rolled his shoulders as he watched smaller children go by, thinking about how they didn't have to worry any longer. All was calm. Eddie's voice cut the peacefulness into shattered pieces. 

“I don't know if I can do it, Rich,” Eddie confessed in a hushed voice, looking at the ground. “I don't know if I can all of this again,” his breath began to stagger "fuck, not now" he thought. 

“Eddie, hey breathe, do you need your inhaler?” Richie was beginning to panic with him, for a different reason. 

“No-I- it’s- bullshit, remember?” He asked through his labored breaths. 

“Okay, breath Eddie, fuck, Eds, just inhale, exhale alright.” Oh god oh god I can't lose him now, please don't fucking die now Richie's mind shouted. 

He placed a hand on his back and sat them down in the grass beside the sidewalk. 

“I- I can't- do - it,” Eddie repeated.

Richie let his mouth take over, once thankful for this curse, “Eddie, if there's one person who can do this again, it's you.” He spoke from his heart, “you kicked that fucking clowns’ ass, Eds. You! You know how fuckin brave you are? You beat that thing! And now you sit here, your body is literally trying to fight itself and you're telling that bitch to quit it by sheer force of will! You, Eddie are one badass motherfucker, you know that? If I ever -no- whenever I get myself into a jam, I want you right by my side.” Richie rarely spoke so sincerely but Eddie absorbed every word of encouragement through the curses and slang. His heart swelled and his breath came back to him in waves. 

“You really mean it, Rich?” He finally said. 

“Of course,” he pulled Eddie up by the arm and they began the journey to Eddie's house again as if nothing had happened. They were close by it now. 

Richie stopped him before just before they got to Eddie's, “and Eds, even if you don't feel like you can do it, I will always be there.” 

Eddie looked in his eyes like he wanted to believe, but didn't quite yet, “do you mean it?” he whispered.

There wasn't any holding back now. 

“Eddie,” Richie looked right back into Eddie's eyes, “I really do.” 

“Promise?” Eddie asked. 

“I promise,” Richie said softly, without a single question or doubt, without looking away. Something powerful and binding hung in the air between them, something they both choose to ignore for the moment.

Eddie smiled at him and they were walking again, Eddie approached at his front door and turned to wave at Richie one last time as if they were still just a couple of naive kids, partially because in a way they still were. 

Richie waved back, if he didn't know before, he knew now. 

!BEEP BEEP BEEP!

Richie was ripped out of his thoughts by the crude call of his alarm clock. He breathed in the air of the morning and reached for his glasses. 

His feet hit the floor to begin another day in the town that had been so cruel to him.

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know your thoughts! Should I keep this goin? Is it garbage? Notice any grammatical mistakes? Tell me, baby!


End file.
